Chapter 59-That’s Our Leader
Days later…
Princess Celestia could see the smoke from miles away. It only got worse as her carriage pulled down to Cloudsdale, revealing the carnage to her up close. Several terrified gasps filled the carriage. Celestia would be lying if hers didn’t join them.
One of the Pegasi pulling the carriage shouted, “Your highness, we’ve arrived to Cloudsdale!” Celestia could’ve sworn she heard him mutter “Holy hell” under his breath. It’s not like she couldn’t blame him. Once the carriage landed on the soft clouds and the doors were opened for the princess, it was hard not to release a curse of her own.
Princess Celestia found herself not to be the first one off, but Rainbow Dash. The guards backed away, stunned to see the Pegasus exit the royal carriage before the princess. They all turned to Celestia, once again stunned to not see her in anger or even a look of rage in her eyes. They all fell and bowed as the princesses made their exit.
The entire time…Celestia just stared at Rainbow Dash.
“Watch out! Get outta the way!” Rainbow Dash screamed, pushing aside the Royal Guard that had accompanied the princesses’ journey. Normally, anypony foolish enough to go against a guard under Princess Celestia would’ve been pushed to the dirt, or cloud in this instance. But they had no affiliation with the sky-blue Pegasus pushing against them, trying so desperately to move past the crowd.
Rainbow Dash growled, becoming more frustrated as the guards just kept on growing in numbers. She even began to spot some regular ponies entering the crowd. Right as she was about to begin kicking, the crowd dispersed once Celestia came from behind.
Rainbow Dash stopped.
Her jaw fell, tears already boiling in her eyes. Once the crowd had fallen apart, most ponies by Celestia’s hooves bowing or begging her for things she couldn’t hear, Rainbow Dash was greeted by the sight that made her heart break. The source of all the smoke in the sky, the rumors she had heard back in Ponyville that morning, the fears boiling inside of her gut on the journey, they were all true.
Passed the lines of wounded Pegasi exiting the floating city, passed the stands that handed out medical supplies, passed the crying families mourning over what was lost lied Cloudsdale. That is…what remained of it.
No more clouds filled the skies. Then again, how could there have been? Cloudsdale was Equestria’s main producer of clouds, and now all that remained of the once thriving metropolis was but a black mark in the sky. Smoke continued to rise from the center of the city, a massive cloud of dark ash filling the blue sky right over Rainbow Dash’s head. The Pegasus’ breath became ragged, her eyes burning, her ears twitching every time a cry was heard in the distance closer to the city.
She felt a hoof rest on her shoulder.
“…Rainbow,” the recognizable voice of Twilight Sparkle began, almost trembling, “I…I don’t even…I-I I’m so sorry.”
Rainbow Dash slowly turned her head back, noticing that Twilight was not alone. Standing behind the Alicorn were the rest of her friends, each of them absorbing the horrible aftermath of the recent attack. Applejack took her hat off, placing it right over her heart. Fluttershy was already leaking fresh tears, pressing against Rarity for comfort.
It was her home, too. Cloudsdale is where they grew up together, her and Fluttershy.
Now…
Rainbow Dash brought up her foreleg, wiping it against her nose and sniffing loudly. “They really did it, didn’t they? They really…bucking did it!” she cried, slamming her hoof into the cloud below her, simply creating an indent. She honestly didn’t care if she was crying anymore.
Twilight reacted first and tried to wrap her friend up in a hug, but to her surprise Rainbow Dash rejected it, pushing Twilight away with her free hoof. Twilight simply stood there, her eyes watching the Pegasus sit down and stare into the ash cloud above the city of Cloudsdale. The whimpers escaping from the Pegasus joined the others behind Twilight.
That’s when…she stepped forward.
Princess Twilight backed away when she noticed the three others walking right by her, all of their eyes focused on the devastation lying ahead. The other princesses that ordered Twilight’s appearance now appeared themselves. All the fear, all the loss, all the shock the citizens of Cloudsdale felt all vanished when they stepped forward.
“Princess Celestia! You came for us!” a Pegasus stallion shouted, limping over to bow at Celestia’s hooves.
“Ruler of the Night, we beg of you…as your children…help us!” a Pegasus mare screamed, practically crawling over and grabbing Luna’s hooves. Princess Luna could do nothing but rub the mare’s forehead, staring at her with sorrowful eyes.
“Is it…? Yes… Princess Cadance! We seek your love! There are many wounded!” a medical pony told her while flying over, soot covering his light blue coat until he was practically as dark as night.
Princess Cadance gently rubbed her hoof across Rainbow Dash’s mane, looking down at the mare with eyes almost as tearful as hers. She quickly stood in front of the medical pony, saying, “Show me where the wounded are.”
Both sisters watched as Cadance was taken away by the Cloudsdale medical staff, joining a tent that was filled to the brim with ponies on their backs and enough painful moans to even cause Luna to shed a tear or two. It was all too painful of a scene, especially since the newest batch of injured entered the scene. It mostly consisted of young fillies and colts joined by their crying mothers while medical ponies tried their hardest to cause the little foals’ hearts to start again.
“Those cowards,” Luna growled, causing her older sister to send a sidelong glance her way. The Princess of the Night clenched her jaw as tight as she could, staring at her own hooves as more tears began to grow in her dark eyes.
“Those…damn cowards,” Luna cursed, finding the word to be fresh even on her tongue. The Royal Sisters rarely let words of hatred and wrath slip by their own vocabulary, but even Princess Luna felt the time was right. After all, they were cowards. Striking down a city filled with innocent ponies with no reason but to set an example.
Celestia expected this from Decepticons.
Luna felt a large wing drape over her own shoulder. She looked to her right and noticed her sister to grow closer to her, nuzzling her in a show of warmth and protection.
“I know it is hard, dear sister,” Celestia began, her eyes drifting off to stare into the rising ash cloud, “but please…we need to keep our composure and let our subjects know we are here…for them. We need to convince them to remain strong, even as the darkness of fear clouds their hearts.”
Her white hoof moved closer and clutched Luna’s dark one.
“Be strong, dear sister.”
Princess Luna remained silent for a while, the only sounds being the shouts of medical staff and the cries of heartbroken mothers only moments after losing their children to death’s cruel grasp. Still, even in the current day of age with fear running rampant across the world, her older sister’s words were just as powerful and moving since the beginning.
She brought up her head, forced to stare at the smoldering crater in the center of Cloudsdale. There were still Pegasi exiting the carnage. Survivors that needed a leader.
“Very well…we shall be strong,” Luna said, her words locked in a promise. With a nod from her sister, the two stepped forward and entered the floating city’s wreckage. Ponies of all shapes and sizes turned their eyes over to the two goddesses. Many more followed right behind them.
Joining that group was Princess Twilight, as well as the rest of her closest friends. Both Applejack and Pinkie came to Rainbow Dash’s side and helped her back up, Applejack nodding Twilight forward. Twilight smiled gratefully, catching up to the two princesses far ahead into the cataclysm.
The city limits hung over the heads of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, bent and broken with scorch marks completely covering the white of the sign. No longer did it welcome those into Cloudsdale. All it served was a deadly reminder of what the princesses were walking into. What they were walking into was a world of pain and loss they haven’t seen since the Darkest Hour, death and fear filling the air alongside the cries of ponies. Their little ponies.
Houses made of pure marble now lay as crumbled fragments along the cloud streets. The inhabitants of these houses, families even, rested on the sidewalks while others walked or flew over them, rather wanting to leave than help the wounded. Two siblings, a colt and filly, sat together with their parents rummaging whatever remained from their destroyed home. The filly pulled apart a bandage, placing it on the hoof of her little brother and kissing it tenderly.
The colt smiled, his sister wiping away the tears on his cheeks. He suddenly gasped, his eyes growing wider once an incredible sight stepped right in front of them. The sister turned to face the street. She gasped.
The presence of the three princesses was felt even in the darkness of the clouds. Pegasi saw their rulers walk through the streets with somber faces and even somber hearts. Some sent scowls their way, shouting at the princesses with questions of pure wrath.
“Your Royal Guard did a heck of a job defending Cloudsdale, huh Celestia?!”
“Where’s the retaliation for all of this, princess?!”
“Go back to Canterlot and do your job!”
Those were just harsh words thrown at them from all angles. Celestia and Luna paid them no heed, for they have felt it numerous times before. Twilight, being so new to it, suddenly realized the sinking feeling in her gut whenever a Pegasus would limp by and spit in her path, or whenever a group of ponies would glare at her from a distance, the message clearly being sent.
Twilight’s friends fared no better. Eyes shot off in every direction to catch every bit of horror, every bit of power the Decepticons had. Rainbow Dash held her jaw tight, teeth clenched and tears falling from her eyes. She still walked on the road ahead, but at least she wouldn’t walk it alone. Her friends were right beside her the entire way.
From the shouts and insults from some ponies, all of that was wiped clean when a new presence presented itself. Once the princesses entered a new area of Cloudsdale, one that was far more damaged since it was closer to the city, the hurting inhabitants began to notice them.
“Oh my…” Luna muttered.
The streets were slowly being flooded. Pegasi with broken wings hanging limply by their sides and blood splotches across their coats came to the princesses, their eyes in full-fledged panic. They approached the two standing Alicorns, crying at their hooves.
“What have we done to deserve this?” one asked, a white bandage wrapped around his right eye.
“Your highnesses…please…stop the aliens from attacking,” a mare begged, holding onto her crying child with a broken foreleg.
“Princess Twilight!” a stallion shouted from the crowd, rushing up to stand uncomfortably close to Twilight’s personal bubble. He stared at her with bloodshot eyes, dried streams of blood flowing down his nose.
He began to speak in uncontrollable gasps. “You know the Autobots… They can stop this from happening again! They can save us like before!” he reached forward and wrapped his hooves around Twilight’s neck, causing the Alicorn to back away from his actions. “Please…tell them to save us!”
Before Twilight could respond, she was pushed forward by Applejack in order to keep up with Celestia and Luna. All Twilight could do was send the stallion a pitiful look.
“They’re coming for Canterlot! They want the country! Prepare yourselves, princesses!” the stallion screamed as the crowd swallowed him whole.
Twilight absorbed the warning more than any of her friends could have. He was just paranoid, frightened after what has befallen Cloudsdale. He was just sputtering gibberish out of fear. Maybe that’s what it was. Maybe not.
The crowd was growing more and more by the second. Celestia and Luna found it increasingly difficult to move five steps forward without being presented by another heart wrenching sight. Perhaps they should’ve taken a few guards with them when they entered Cloudsdale. Then again, why would they? To look formal for giving their respects to those who perished during the attack? No, they needed to walk alone, unprotected, to experience the destruction and pain for themselves. That task succeeded exceptionally well.
“Out of the way!”
The shout came from above, prompting all eyes to turn to the dark skies. Out of the smoke and ash came three blurry figures, each of them sporting lightning colored stripes across their body. The crowd saw them coming and quickly dispersed, allowing the three figures a safe landing right in front of the two Alicorns.
Celestia recognized the first one instantly. She didn’t need to be misguided by the soot covering her uniform to know who the mare was.
Spitfire pulled down her goggles, revealing two circular outlines of soot surrounding her eyes. The goggles fell to rest around her neck, allowing the mare to look up at the much larger pony standing in front of her.
“Your highness…welcome to Cloudsdale,” she said, almost completely out of breath.
Fleetfoot scoffed, pushing aside a wounded stallion trying to get up to the princess. “Sorry we couldn’t clean up the place when he heard you were coming for a visit.”
The joke caused nopony to smile, not even Pinkie. Even Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to care that Spitfire herself was standing ten feet in front of her. Spitfire noticed Rainbow Dash hidden behind Celestia and Princess Twilight, staring at the ground sadly. She let loose a sad sigh, looking onwards to hear Princess Celestia speak.
“None of that matters,” Celestia said, looking over to address the captain. She asked, “How does it look inside the city?”
Spitfire shook her head, looking up towards the rising cloud of ash. “Excuse me for my language but uh…it’s a bucking mess down there. Buildings toppled over, cloud factories in flames, and one heck of a crater the size of an Ursa Major in the center of the city. To put it simply…it’s not pretty.”
“We tried to escort as many ponies out as possible,” Soarin’ began to say, ending up in a coughing fit. “But uh…it was practically impossible to fly through the smoke, let alone guide a bunch of wounded ponies out of it.”
Celestia and Luna both closed their eyes, a dark shadow overcoming their hearts. Celestia opened hers first, staring right into Spitfire’s gaze with a worried look.
“So…there weren’t many survivors?” she asked.
Spitfire thought about it for a second, turning to Soarin’ and Fleetfoot as they continued to keep the crowd back. She was on her own for this one. “Well…we don’t know yet. The amounts of ponies still leaving the city are slim, but they’re still coming,” Spitfire explained, earning a nod from Celestia.
“Also…”
Spitfire’s eyes grew ten times colder, the breeze blowing her wild mane as she looked for the right words.
“Also,” Fleetfoot said, turning around to face Celestia. Spitfire sighed and turned to Fleetfoot, listening as her fellow Wonderbolt began to explain. “Right after the explosion in the center of Cloudsdale, we were ambushed by a group of Decepticons.”
“Oh my goodness,” Celestia gasped, covering her mouth with a hoof. “What happened?”
“That part kinda confuses us,” Spitfire returned, stepping next to Fleetfoot. She looked over to Soarin’ and whistled. Soarin’ spun his head around, instantly noticing his captain holding out her hoof to him. He nodded, opening his saddlebag with a wing and reaching inside. He brought his head back when he held the device between his jaws. Soarin’ stepped forward and placed the object in Spitfire’s hoof.
Grimacing at the leftover slobber Soarin’ gratefully left on the object, Spitfire turned back to face Celestia, her eyes almost as dark as the cloud of smoke behind her head. The six mares reared forward from behind the two Alicorns, getting a good look at what exactly was resting in Spitfire’s hoof.
The object was a jet-black orb no bigger than an apple. At first it didn’t catch the eye of Twilight or any of her friends, but that’s when Spitfire brought it into whatever light there was in the remains of Cloudsdale. A dark purple Decepticon symbol graced the object, as well as three capital A’s hanging underneath it.
“Instead of killing us, one of ‘em dropped this from its hand right by my hooves,” Spitfire explained, holding the device out more for Princess Twilight to see. “And the only thing the Decepticon said was, ‘For the princesses.’”
Spitfire brought the object back, staring at it with confused eyes.
“What do ya think it means, your highness?” the captain asked.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna knew all too well what the object was. The Decepticon symbol clearly meant the attack was from the Decepticons, but the three A’s underneath it only deepened Celestia’s worries.
AAA.
With a sigh, Princess Celestia enveloped the object with her magic, levitating it out in front of her. Princess Twilight stepped forward right in-between the two taller Alicorns. She stared up at the strange object with enough curiosity to kill many cats. Celestia looked down at the young princess, lowering the device to her.
“Can you hold this for a moment, Princess Twilight?”
“O-oh! Um…yeah, sure,” Twilight muttered, gladly taking the device and holding it between her hooves like a child staring at a big lollipop. It was surprisingly smooth and not so heavy, something that surprised the Alicorn even as she brought it back to show her friends.
Celestia sighed once more, turning to face Spitfire. She gave the captain of the Wonderbolts a little bow.
“Thank you for all that you’ve done, Captain Spitfire. Now, if you’d be so kind…” Princess Celestia said, leaving her sentence to hang in the ashy air. Spitfire understood immediately, turning to face the crowd.
“Alright! Clear the way! Princesses coming through!” she shouted, dispersing the crowd to the sides of the street. Fleetfoot and Soarin’ both took off to the skies, their trail leading back to the city. Spitfire turned to Celestia, nodding once.
“You headin’ to the city, your highness?”
Both Celestia and Luna nodded.
“Alright…follow me,” Spitfire told them, spreading her wings and taking off into the darkness ahead. Her trail could still be visibly seen, causing a gracious smile to spread over Celestia’s mouth.
Luna was the first to break through the crowd. She looked back at her older sister, her eyes betraying all the emotions she felt in her heart. She asked, “We’re heading into that?” Celestia nodded. “For what purpose other than to gain more heartache?”
Princess Celestia stepped past her sister, her gaze locked with the tower of ash rising to the heavens. “Captain Spitfire mentioned slim groups of ponies still leaving the city,” she turned to face her sister’s stare, piercing it with her own. “I believe our little ponies need their mothers.”
The two sisters walked right into the devastation, a band of six scarred mares trailing behind.
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THOSE COWARDS!!! THEY BLEW IT UP!!!! THEY BLEW IT ALL UP!!!!
My dad just possibly burned our lunch
I had to close my room so smoke wouldn't come in here
Now Cloudsdale was hit?!
Curse you Decepticons!!!
5656948
Those damn Cons will pay for this! No one blows up Rainbow and Fluttershy's home and gets away with it!
The ponies are getting more desperate for help and more bitter at their leaders because all they've done so far is just stand by and watch instead of taking action much earlier. Though either way, it wouldn't have mattered as the Decepticons have no intention of sparing Equestria.
5657035 Indeed. they must pay BIG TIME. We need Drift to get Optimus back
well to be fair, Celestia and Luna never do jack shit. Celestia could walk outside, see World War 5 going on in the entire damn world, and her first thought will be "Ill just send Twilight"
5656948 Ya! They did!
Damn. Get those Autobots into fighting shape Drift. We could really use Prime right about now.
5657055 I know, right? Why can't she just for once just stop being such a neglectful leader and take some god damn authority!
5657144 My thoughts exactly!
on a separate note, I love how my computer will just cut out the audio of like the last few astroseconds if a video is maybe 3 seconds long
this pony genocide is Hitler approved
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvuxf1cUlK1qd7un5o1_400.jpg
So... much... CARNAGE!!!!!
The Transformers' war is hitting all of ponykind hard, even the princesses.
This is not war, its Equestria's extinction
This isn't a war or battle, it's a Primus damn massacre!
bwtf.com/comicbook-images/idw/ironhide2/ironhide.jpg
I really hope Optimus and the Autobots regain their memories... cause I want everyone of those fucking Decepticons dead! All those Cons need to die!! Optimus Prime will rip every one of their fucking heads off and feed them to the Scraplets!!
Anyway, this is getting good, JDPrime22. I really hope you find a way for them to remember. Cause I really hate seeing the Mane six heartbroken from losing their friends.
It's shit like this with the princesses is the reason why I still have some understanding with Nocturne. While he is a heartless bastard, the truth of the matter is he's right. The fact that the Decepticons have attacked 4 cities now, and Celestia still refuses to retaliate is showing that they aren't fit to rule. So far not one good thing has happened in this story since the Autobots were reunited. Since then it's just been a downward spiral that has no end. While Celestia is still trying to retain her image in bringing false hope, more ponies are dying. The question is how many more will she allow to die before she get's off her ass and do something?
Why do I feel like will see this all over Equestria?
i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/Shadow0666/glossy_orb_psd_by_faroreswind159-d31ugod_zps7jrdcqhu.png
5657932
This isn't a massacre, this is pest control.
fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/047/4/5/shockwave_blast_by_raikoh_illust-d5v50ak.jpg
5660058 Holy crap, did you make that? That's awesome!
5656948 Damn them all to hell!
5657932
5658905 Thanks! I'll keep trying to bring you guys an epic story!
5657098 YES! We need Prime now!
5661410 I just really hope they get their memories back. Cause you told me they would near the end. When is the end, I don't know. But I do hope they do.
5661410
Yes, I did.
5657251 Silly Hitler, you can't approve anything, you're dead!
5662529 and he's dating Benita Lopez from that old show George Lopez. At least he's suffering.
I have nothing else to say besides it's all generic background Vehicon number 666's fault (You'll get this JD) because he bought Shockwave the damn energon-beer to get him drunk so he can make up the bull crap plan that has resulted in this story and numerous deaths.
5667426 okay, to bad arcee isnt in equestria because it would be interesting having her as spikes partner, like twi and prime or rainbow and grimlok
Damn those Decepticons! So much destruction and death. The ponies are practically helpless against them and the princesses and Mane 6 don’t know what they can do about it.